Mike Dee & The Jaywalkers

This
Semi-professional West London band first went under the name of "Denny
& The Jaywalkers" in late 1960, but their then singer Denny De
Banks, who was two years older than the other band members, soon
retired. So the rest of the band - lead guitarist Brian Cell, rhythm
guitarist Brian Mansell, bass player Dave Tippler and drummer Terry
Mabey - auditioned for a replacement and Mick Wheeler from Twickenham
eventually came into the picture. Wheeler was originally playing rhythm
guitar for another local band The Paragons but wanted to do more
singing. Thus they became "Mike Dee & The Jaywalkers" in early
1961 (1).

They were managed by
DJ Phil Jay who worked for promoter Larry Parnes, compering his "Star
Spangled Nights" tours and rhythm band competitions.

Jay
discovered Denny & The Jaywalkers during one of these
competitions in Twickenham. He was also managing Frankie Reid &
the Casuals and The Conchords, whose vocalist was future Mungo Jerry Ray
Dorset (2). The Conchords did some supports to The Jaywalkers and some
other gigs and eventually the Sunday night residency at the White Heart
pub on the Uxbridge Road in Southall.

Mid-1961,
they went for an audition for Don Arden, Gene Vincent's manager, at the
2 i'S coffee bar but Arden was not keen on Brian Cell so they were
partnered up with Ritchie Blackmore (3) who was known as "Blackie" at
that time, then-lead guitarist with the Dominators, and responded to the
advert after missing out on a job with Screaming Lord Sutch.
They
therefore got their first big break in early August 1961 when they
first supported Gene Vincent at Slough Carlton Ballroom (4).
Then
they joined a package tour called "A Star Spangled Night" and headlined
by Billy Fury with a bill that consisted of Eden Kane, Karl Denver, The
Allisons, Chas McDevitt & Shirley Douglas, Dave Sampson, Gordon
Peters... and Peter Jay & The Jaywalkers in November 1961. It
was, in fact, only because Shirley Douglas took ill that they got such a
prodigious gig as Mick Wheeler recalls (5). Because they were Last
minute stand-ins the presence of Peter Jay & The Jaywalkers, who
were backing Eden Kane (and later recorded with Joe Meek, "French Can
Can '62"), caused some confusion for Wheeler and his pals…
A few days later, Mike Dee & The Jaywalkers supported Gene Vincent again at the Community Centre, Southall.
Blackmore
thus took up music professionally, going on the road with them, and
gave up his day job as an aircraft radio technician at the Heathrow
Airport. By this time he purchased his cherry red Gibson ES835 guitar,
identical to the one Chuck Berry used.
The first record he ever
made was "Stolen Hours" c/w "My Blue Heaven" with The Jaywalkers for
Decca Records, in 1961. They wanted it rocked up , but it got turned
down and unfortunately remained unreleased.

During
winter 1961, Terry Maybey was hospitalised and Derek "Degsy" Sirmon (who
was just 15 at the time), drummer with The Conchords, got asked to step
in for The Jaywalkers who gave him a regular job with them...

Mike
Dee & the Jaywalkers renamed themselves as the Condors and
acted as backing group during a short tour Kestrels and Danny Rivers.

By
April 1962, because of the confusion with Peter Jay’s lot, they decided
to change their name to the Condors unbeknownst to them… Johnny
Milton’s Condors… they were mistakenly booked on the Gary 'US'
Bonds/Johnny Burnette/Gene McDaniels package tour… the Kestrels and
Danny Rivers… all of whom the Condors were employed to back (package
tour - April 21 to May 13, 1962).

When Bernie Watson left the Savages, Blackmore accepted the gig… had to fulfill his commitments as guitarist for The Condors.

Mike
Dee later formed The Prophets with Mel Wayne (sax) and Kenny Hope
(drums) among others. The band changed name to The All Night Workers in
early 1965.

(1) Brian Hosking"The
Jaywalkers were probably the first live band I saw and I was probably
about 14... They went under the name of "Denny and the Jaywalkers".
Denny looked ever so old to me at that age so he probably retired and
they auditioned for a replacement which was the opening for Mick Wheeler
who was playing rhythm for another local band but wanted to do more
singing. This would have been around 1961.Throughout this time the
line up was Brian Sell Lead guitar, Brian Mansell Rhythm, Dave Tippler
Bass and Terrry Mabey drums. The next time I saw them they were "Mike
Dee and the Jaywalkers.This continued for a while until they went
for an audition for Don Arden at the 2 i'S coffee bar but Arden was not
keen on Brian Sell so they were partnered up with Richie Blackmore who
was known as "Blackie" at that time. This was fairly short lived
however, as he soon moved on to Sutch and The Outlaws and Brian came
back."

(2) Ray Dorset"The Conchords got mixed up with a
DJ called Phil Jay, who had something to do with a local band Frankie
Reid & the Casuals and also managed another local band, Mike Dee
& The Jaywalkers, their guitarist at the time was Brian Cell
and when he left the band he was replaced by Ritchie Blackmore... We did
some supports to The Jaywalkers and some other gigs and eventually the
Sunday night residency at the White Heart pub on the Uxbridge Road in
Southall... Deg’s was a great natural drummer and one night got
asked to step in for The Jaywalkers who gave him a regular job with them
and it wasn’t long after that he joined the band of Screaming Lord
Sutch that Ritchie Blackmore went to play with."

(3) "Record Collector" #228, August 1998RC: Your pret proper job was as an aircraft radio technician. When did you decide to take up music professionally? Ritchie
Blackmore: "I was in this band, Mike Dee & the Jaywalkers, who
wanted to go on the road. I was sixteen and that was how I started in
the profession. We travelled up and down the M1 in a Bedford van, with
the back door half-open. It would get really cold. The first record I
ever made was with them in 1961. It was called "My Blue Heaven" and
they wanted it rocked up. We did it with Decca Records, but we got
turned down."

(4) Mike Dee & The Jaywalkers
supported twice Gene Vincent: on Tuesday August 1st 1961 at the Carlton
Ballroom, Slough, and then on Sunday November 26th at the Community
Centre, Southall, England.

(5-A) Mike Dee & The
Jaywalkers were last minute replacements for Shirley Douglas on package
tour headlined by Billy Fury & Eden Kane and promoted by Larry
Parnes, on Monday November 20th at the Granada , Dartford (Matinee show
starting at 6.40pm) and evening show at 8.50pm) and on Tuesday November
21st 1961 at the Guildhall, Portsmouth (Matinee show starting at 6.20pm
and evening show at 8.45pm).

(5-B) Mike Wheeler"We
got a phone call… could we come on, at Dartford, and replace Shirley
Douglas who took ill. We only did 3 or so gigs. Funnily enough the other
Jaywalkers were on that tour because they were backing Eden Kane…"

Derek Sirmon"Also
played Semi-professionally with Mike Dee and the Jaywalkers, when their
drummer (Terry Maybey) was hospitalised. That was the band where I
first worked with Ritchie Blackmore. It was Ritchie who persuaded
Screaming Lord Sutch to recruit me into "The Savages" - Without doubt
the hardest driving (and loudest) band in U.K."

Mike Wheeler:"I
knew something was up because it was at Southall Community Centre where
we were playing. Sutchy came down and Ritchie was chatting with him and
I knew he hadn’t come to see us… The reason Ritchie left really was
because we were averaging £10-£15 a week and Sutch offered him £20, plus
he was the best payers on the road… a really big pull. That’s why all
the big guitarists played with him because he paid so much."

5 comments:

We are looking for an album made by a band in the '68. The band called Child was located in NYC with the label of Jubilee. If anyone can help locate a site that has this album for sale, we would appreciate it. CM

This is an old post I'm replying to. I think by now you found a vinyl copy of Child. I've had 2 or 3 copies over the years and sold them all. It's been a while now. I paid roughly $20 for the copies I had.EBay always had copies for sale and maybe Musicstack. Vinyl is hot now so I wouldn't be surprised if guys were trying to get $50 for a copy of Child at this point. At any rate, it should be easy to find as it wasn't what I'd call a rare record. Good luck if you see this reply. Bill.

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Hi Anonymous There is no connection between the two bands. They are often mistaken for each other but Peter Jay and the Jaywalkers were a Norwich formed band with local members. Larry Parnes did give the boys a break by booking them for tours but never managed them as reports sometimes say. Dick Rowe signed them to Decca. Hope this is helpful?